Elder Abuse National Research

This background paper sets out the approach to the development of a working definition of abuse of older people. The working definition is intended to be applied in the Elder Abuse National Research Program and, in particular, to inform the development of data collection instruments for an Australian Prevalence Study. The proposed working definition set out in this paper will be applied and tested as part of the Prevalence Study. At the conclusion of the study, it is expected a final research-based definition will have been developed that is appropriate to the Australian context and can be used to support any future research conducted in Australia. In the interim, it is expected that the Australian Government will continue to refer to the World Health Organization's (WHO) definition of elder abuse.

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